Professor Merete Nordentoft:

I do not know whether there was a misunderstanding regarding the role of the Danish ethical committee. Euthanasia or assisted dying is not legal in Denmark at this time. The role of the national ethical committee has nothing to do with deciding on who should be eligible. The committee was just asked to provide arguments for and against the issue for the parliament. The vast majority of us were against, based on all these arguments the committee has heard.

As part of the process, as Dr. Beck Lassen mentioned, we looked into different countries. I agree we might have looked into more countries but we had meetings with NGO representatives. Of course, these related to case reports, more or less, but they were afraid - I would not go as far as to call it the right to exist - that the people they represented would be seen as something less valuable because a person in a similar position could be given the option of assisted dying. They were concerned about whether the societal view of disability would change as a consequence of new legislation. That was their concern. We just listened.